


48 Years

by Cassbuttstiels



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Weird Neighbours AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 21:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4640979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassbuttstiels/pseuds/Cassbuttstiels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love was strange. Sometimes it was fleeting, but once it got a hold of Lovino, it never seemed to let go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	48 Years

**Author's Note:**

> Written for day 6 of Prumano Week 2015, the prompt being Weird Neighbours.

Present Day

There was a ramshackle house next door to Lovino Vargas’s home. It hadn’t been lived in in about ten years, but he could still vividly remember the family that had occupied it before. They were a small family, and he had talked to them before; they were the kindest people. There was a man named Sigurd- about 24 years old last time they talked, and his lover, Mathias- 26 years old. Then there was the light of their life, Sigurd’s baby brother, Emil, who had been 6 years old. They were the nicest and most ordinary family until the car accident. Their family was ripped apart by the tragedy, and Mathias and Emil had agreed that it would be the best for the two of them to leave. It was sad and horrible, and Lovino had felt horrible when the news reached him, but he didn’t stop them from leaving because he understood their pain. Yes, grumpy old man Vargas had emotions, and he had lived through so much pain in his lifetime. He looked at the old ramshackle home, so close, and reflected. He remembered a time when it was new, a time when he would run through the halls of it in his socks and underwear, trying to get his shirt back and laughing all the while. It was all too vivid.

_March, 1957_

__

_The air was brisk, and Lovino enjoyed the way it nipped at his skin. He felt powerful at 17 years old, and was feeling the excitement as the end of the school year drew near. That meant summer, which meant visiting his grandfather in Italy. He yearned for the heat and the warmth of the sun on his skin, but he didn’t mind the cold either- as long as he had a good coat to wear. He stopped walking when he saw a truck in front of the house next door. Maybe someone was moving in finally. Lovino hoped that they would be cool. He watched the family from his front lawn, curiosity at its peak._

__

_There was a mother and a father, who looked suburban enough, and then three boys. The oldest looking of the three was tall and thin, with dark hair and glasses that were fogging up every time he drank from his travel mug. He looked to be either Lovino’s age or a year older. The next brother was a little taller than the other, built a little more, with a mop of silver atop his head that almost blended in with the snow behind him. How peculiar, Lovino thought. The youngest looked to be in late elementary school, wearing a serious expression for a kid. He had a square jaw and his blond hair was parted to the side and combed neatly. None of them looked really similar to each other, and Lovino wouldn’t have guessed they were related, but their eyes. Even though each had a different vivid shade, their eyes all had the same harsh shape. The three boys continued to talk amongst themselves, unaware of Lovino’s prying eyes._

__

_He couldn’t stop staring at the middle brother. His vivacity, the way he talked in such an animated way, his vivid colouring. It was stunning, to say the least. He didn’t think anything about his staring until the other locked eyes with him. His eyes were beautiful, a deep red that Lovino could see from all the way in his own yard. He tensed, not knowing how to react to being caught staring. The other grinned at him and shot a wink over. Lovino glared at the stellar stranger, trying to hide the colour that was surely filling his cheeks._

__

_This can’t be happening, he thought to himself as he turned on his heel and hurried inside. If he let this get to him too much, there was no telling what could happen. He buried his thoughts of the stranger and his beauty deep inside, where maybe, just maybe, it would stay locked away._

__

Present Day

It had been raining when Lovino woke up, but when it was time for him to head to church, the clouds had cleared and the spring day proved to be absolutely wonderful. He smiled at the old woman who lived across the street. Oh how Miss Belle liked those flowers in her front yard. She was one of the few people on the street who enjoyed Lovino’s presence, making her one of his closest friends.

“Good morning, dear! Headed off to church?” She called from the mass of tulips.

“Yes, I am! And then off to see Gilbert!” Lovino hollered back, smiling sweetly.

Miss Belle smiled sadly, nodding her head in acknowledgement. “Please do tell him about the birds nesting in my garden. I do think he would like to hear about them!”

“I will,” Lovino said, nodding and giving himself a mental note. Gilbert did love birds. He was always talking about them way back- how long ago was it? It had been years, but everything still felt fresh in his mind. He bid Miss Belle farewell and slid into the driver’s seat of his car, putting the key in the ignition.

_May, 1957_

__

_Lovino disliked his new neighbours. They were a beautiful lot, he gave them that, but they were also quite loud. His house was already loud between his two brothers, but since the Beilschmidt’s had gotten settled in, he now had to deal with the constant flow of music coming from their house at all hours of the day. There was the eldest brother, Roderich, who was a musical prodigy, and while his playing of the piano and violin were pleasant to listen to for a little bit, it got old after a while of it being constant. Then there was Gilbert, the beautiful stranger who had captured his mind when he first laid eyes on him. Gilbert, like Roderich, played many instruments. He played the flute and the trumpet, but no, his favourite thing to play during ungodly hours was the drums. Lovino didn’t even understand the style he was going for with them. It sounded different and strange. Maybe he was trying to make a new style of music._

__

_Then there was Ludwig, a whole different realm of strange. He didn’t play instruments like his elder brothers. No, instead he would wake up entirely too early for a kid that young and play soldier with their father. They would go for runs in the morning, and his father would teach him anything he asked to be taught. That included teaching him how to hold and shoot a gun when he asked. The worst part was that the kid was really good at it. It was annoying to listen to a kid shooting a target at 8:30 am._

__

_He had talked to his neighbours only a handful of times, and the entire family seemed weird. Even worse, the mother was pregnant with another child. That was why they had moved in the first place, so they would have more room for another baby._

__

_His brother Feliciano, on the other hand, enjoyed the family quite a bit. He would his weekends at their house, and was very close with Ludwig, the youngest son. Lovino suspected that he might even have a crush on Ludwig, but dismissed the thought. He was already the family’s sin, and none of them even knew it yet. It would be rather peculiar if his brother ended up being broken like he was. Worse yet, although the Vargas family was accepting of all kinds of love, the people at their church weren’t. If people found out they would probably call them demons or try to exorcise them or something._

__

_Lovino couldn’t help but worry that the family next door ruining everything he had helped build himself up to be. He had a reputation, and while they hadn’t destroyed it within the time that they had been there, there was the chance that they could with the start of the next school year. Senior year. The thought of it was exciting and terrifying to Lovino. He still had a few weeks left of his junior year, but they seemed to be trickling away all too quickly._

__

Present Day

Lovino Vargas walked down the pathway of the cemetery, bouquet in hands. That day’s service had been fine indeed. He enjoyed the eccentric pastor’s way of talking about things. He was young, but he had a good understanding of the way things should work. He spent the entire service that day talking about love, and how you could never truly love God unless you removed all hate from your heart, and he talked about how it was hard to let go of the things that people had done to wrong you, and how life was so much better after you forgave people.

Lovino agreed with the pastor. He thought about the service that day as he reached Gilbert’s stone. He smiled softly and took the old flowers out of the vase, putting the new ones there and giving them fresh water.

“Hello, Old Friend,” he whispered, laying a hand on the cool stone.

_July, 1957_

__

_“Hey, we should really hang out sometime,” came a voice from behind Lovino, he turned around and met the eyes of Gilbert Beilschmidt, raising an eyebrow in confusion._

__

_“Really? I’ve talked to you, like what? Twice? Why do you wanna be best friends all the sudden?”_

__

_“I dunno,” Gilbert began, shrugging, “I mean, we’re neighbours, so I mean it would be nice to know who I’m living next to. You’re brothers are always here so I know them well enough, but I barely know you”. He had a point._

__

_Lovino pretended to give it a little more thought, before finally agreeing that they could hang out. He was then invited to eat dinner with the family so he could meet everyone, Gilbert promising that they were all nice and really ‘awesome’. Lovino didn’t have a doubt that the family would be nice, but he wasn’t sure how he would enjoy their German tastes in food._

Present Day

Lovino went about preparing his dinner. If there was one thing he was good at, it was cooking. He had gotten that from his grandfather, who had passed on all of his recipes to him. When he was younger, he had been a chef at a local restaurant, but he had grown old and the hours of the restaurant had become too much for him so he retired. His brothers tried to get him to move into a retirement home, but Lovino refused. He wouldn’t be able to eat good food or cook for himself with all of those nurses telling him to do this or that. He liked his life just the way it was. Besides, 75 wasn’t that old.

_November, 1957_

__

_The air was crisp outside, but inside the Beilschmidts’ home, it was nice and cozy. They had thick blankets strewn throughout the house and always had a pot of coffee waiting any who wanted it. Lovino sat wrapped in a blanket, in front of the fireplace with a mug of coffee, Gilbert at his side in another blanket. Gilbert didn’t drink coffee as often as Lovino, saying that he didn’t need the caffeine to fuel him._

__

_Ever since the two of them had started hanging out, they discovered that they had a lot in common and maybe they weren’t as weird as they had originally thought each other to be. They had a nice friendship- it was comfortable. They hung out a lot, but they were able to sit in silence for hours on end, just reading their own books and sharing their presence. Sometimes, Gilbert would talk about how he wanted a pet bird. He didn’t care what kind of bird, he would say, just any old bird would do. Lovino wasn’t much of an animal person, but Gilbert had a passion for them. He wanted to go into veterinary school. Lovino thought it suited him._

__

_April, 1958_

__

_The end of their senior year was rapidly approaching and it made Lovino sad to know that the two of them would be going seperate ways. Gilbert planned on going to a school in New Jersey, while Lovino was going to one more locally. Four hours really wasn’t that much in the grand scheme of things but it seemed like a lot when you didn’t have a car._

__

_It was one fateful night that April when Gilbert told Lovino that he liked him as more than a friend. Lovino’s heart lept into his throat, wondering what he had done to deserve someone so beautiful. Lovino felt the same way, but he was filled with all sorts of fears. If people found out if could cause trouble for both of them. It was an era where homosexuality was looked at with a skeptical eye and anything other than that and heterosexuality was myth._

__

_They decided that they would be together, but it would be in secret. Neither of them really liked secrets, but they decided that it would be what was safest. Their families both knew, and were completely supportive and accepting, but nobody else could know._

__

_September, 1963_

__

_The previous year, Lovino and Gilbert had graduated from their universities, and despite the four-hour distance between the two of them, they had maintained a healthy relationship. They had written letters back and forth, so often that Lovino had multiple shoeboxes filled with Gilbert’s scratchy handwriting._

__

_Now they were back at their childhood homes. Lovino’s family still lived there and welcomed him back with broad grins and open arms. His youngest brother, Marcello was going to be a freshman in high school this year and Feliciano was going into his junior year. Gilbert’s family had moved again, but they had left their house for Gilbert, knowing he would need a place to live after college. Neither of them had anticipated on things working out so that they would be able to live next to each other once again, but when they worked out that way, it was beautiful and wonderful._

__

_August, 1965_

__

_It wasn’t hard for Lovino to decide when Gilbert asked him to move in with him. In fact, he instantly said yes. Him and Gilbert had been together for such a long time, and Lovino was so in love with him. He knew it was the closest thing they would ever be able to have to marriage. Nobody on their street ever questioned them, the most commentary they had being “Smart idea to split the bill like that,”. It was blissful._

__

_Lovino loved being able to wake up every morning beside Gilbert, being able to get ready for work with the other by his side. He loved the way Gilbert would steal his shirt while he was showering and make a game out of it, bolting through the house and making the other chase him in his underwear in order to get it back. It was all so simple._

Present Day

After a nice supper, Lovino went to bed. His sheets were warm and he seemed to sink into the mattress. He dreamt of Gilbert still being there, of him living to see marriage equality. He would have never believed such a thing to be possible back then. Neither would’ve Lovino. It’s something one must see to believe, he thought to himself. Their wedding would have been beautiful and grand. With all of the talent and support from both of their families, it would’ve been picturesque. There would be Marcello and Feliciano, both of which were able to cook, and Marcello an excellent baker as well. Roderich would have been able to arrange all of the music and play the organ as one of them walked down the aisle. Ludwig was excellent at scheduling everything and would have without a doubt made sure everything went smoothly. Gilbert’s youngest brother, Hans, had a way with art and would have been able to help with invitations and decorations. Everyone in their families had passions that blended together so beautifully.

_April, 1967_

__

_It was pouring out when it happened. The air smelled round and clean, and they had just been walking to the flower shop to get advice on their garden. It had happened too quickly. One moment, Lovino and Gilbert had been walking across the street, huddled under their umbrella to keep dry, and the next, a car had unexpectedly whipped its way around the corner. Lovino didn’t have the time to react to it, nor did he grasp what Gilbert was doing when he shoved him out of the way. The car kept driving, its wheels squealing against the wet pavement. Lovino couldn’t move. He could only watch as the rain continued to pour down, cleansing the pavement of evidence._

__

_-_

__

_Three days later, there was the funeral. People spoke in hushed voices, and those who weren’t within his family or Gilbert’s immediate family kept giving Lovino odd looks. He felt like he didn’t belong here. The skeptical looks that everyone kept giving him was too much. He wanted to leave so badly, it was killing him just being there, but he knew that he couldn’t. He had to push through the pain and he had to stay through the end. He had to do it because he was still in love with Gilbert and needed to do this last thing for him._

__

_He got up and spoke. He hadn’t been planning on it, but when they opened it for people to come up and share, he knew he had to. It was next to impossible, and every few words he would have to stop to regain his composure. He told their entire story, and everyone nodded along in sympathy. Maybe more people would have accepted them than they had thought._

__

_The graveside service was brief, and Lovino hated the feeling of finality as the sleek casket was lowered into the earth. This was it. Lovino would never see Gilbert in person again- not in this lifetime at least. The pain was excruciating, but he knew he would have to let go eventually._

__

_-_

__

_It took a while for him to stop hating that reckless driver from that one fateful day. It took him even longer to accept that Gilbert was gone and be okay with it. Even after he was able to accept Gilbert’s death, Lovino still loved him. He visited him every day, telling him everything that had been happening. Months turned to years, which turned to decades. 48 years. 48 years, and Lovino had visited Gilbert every single day. Even when he had been hospitalised for a broken leg, Lovino had forced the nurses to let him go to see Gilbert. They had allowed Feliciano to take him for a couple of hours each day so that he could talk to his beloved. It had been a relief when they had finally let him out of the hospital and he was able to do things on his own terms again._

__

_48 years, and Lovino had visited Gilbert every single day. It would end at 48._

Present Day

Miss Belle sat in the pew of the old church, wearing her best black dress. There weren’t many people there, not many people who were close to Lovino were still alive and he hadn’t had kids. His two brothers were there, as well as Gilbert’s three brothers. Roderich was the oldest person there at 76 years old. Apart from them, there were a few other people from their small town.

Miss Belle felt like an outsider and congregated with two of the other women that she knew. There was Liz (the 74 year old argued that she would never be too old for the name), who she had been close to in elementary school, and who had gone on to marry Roderich. They were the token cute old couple that every church had. Then there was Miss Veronique, a woman in her early sixties who had lived two houses down from Lovino.

There was also a pair of men, whom nobody recognised except for Belle. Belle was the only other person on the street who had lived there as long as Lovino, and she remembered them all too well. They had been Lovino’s neighbors around a decade before, moving into the house that he and Gilbert had once lived in. She had thought that Lovino would have been bitter about it at the time, but he welcomed the family.

Mathias had to be in his late thirties now, and Emil was a strapping young man. He looked like his brother. During the service, Roderich gave a eulogy, as well as Marcello. Feliciano would’ve spoken, but he couldn’t hold back the tears. The pastor looked like he might break down as well, but he managed to hold it together.

 **  
** As the procession took the group to the cemetery, people were able to regain their composure. The road that lead there was long and twisting, and it lay in a nice, secluded clearing in the woods. Wildflowers bloomed at the edge of the place and Lovino’s casket was hauled to a spot under an ancient old oak. After the graveside service, Lovino was lowered into the earth beside his lover. There was something poetic about it, Miss Belle thought. Something about the way that he had loved Gilbert for so long. The way that they were at last together. The shadows that the old oak cast upon the area seemed to be dancing.


End file.
